i get a little bit surprised by what seems to be the conventional thinking that when you retire and move to pension mode, that you must move all invested assets into ultra conservative classes such as bonds and fixed interest. it comes up all the time in forums like this and investment articles and so on. i can understand that approach being suggested for somebody with minimal assets who's maybe relying on the pension as well and would get seriously knocked around by a severe sharemarket downturn.
however, if you've prepared yourself pretty well and have a good asset base for retirement, do you really want (or need) to just dial from a growth strategy all the way to a strictly conservative approach on the day you retire (and accept that 4-5% is as good as you'll get?).
i'm planning to retire in a few years. i'll be late 50s and will hopefully be around for a few more decades. i'm thinking of something like 20% remaining in growth assets (shares & funds), 10% cash (to be put to work when the market bottoms) and the rest in secure and diversified income based products. i'd be interested in other's thoughts.
